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69 votes
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Apple has kept an illegal monopoly over smartphones in US, Justice Department says in antitrust suit
95 votes -
US stores increasingly reverse course on self checkout
62 votes -
Refund fraud schemes promoted on TikTok, Telegram are costing Amazon and other retailers billions of dollars
37 votes -
Twitter accepts buyout, giving Elon Musk total control of the company
51 votes -
Tell US Congress: Stop the TikTok ban
32 votes -
Text of u/DivestTrump's post about T_D and Russia propaganda that was deleted
51 votes -
Google sued for negligence after man drove off collapsed bridge while following map directions
67 votes -
Spotify has signed a new multiyear agreement with Joe Rogan, the host of one of the most popular and polarizing podcasts in the US
36 votes -
US Redditors to earn real money for gold, karma
71 votes -
Sarah Silverman hits stumbling block in AI copyright infringement lawsuit against Meta
45 votes -
House passes bill that could ban TikTok in the US, sending it to the Senate
45 votes -
Evernote, the memory app people forgot about, lays off entire US staff
93 votes -
Men took over a job fair intended for women and nonbinary tech workers
51 votes -
Will the Apple antitrust case affect your phone’s security?
15 votes -
Reddit hires its first chief financial officer as it prepares for an IPO
31 votes -
United States Postal Service (USPS) files patent for a blockchain-based voting system
24 votes -
Texas is replacing thousands of human exam graders with AI
33 votes -
Survey: 83% of US teens have an iPhone, Android 9%
30 votes -
We must end the tyranny of printers in American life
49 votes -
The scary power of the companies that finally shut Trump up
25 votes -
Kroger’s panopticon: Making criminals of grocery shoppers
37 votes -
Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump
50 votes -
The Google engineer who thinks the company’s AI has come to life
17 votes -
OpenAI announces leadership transition
65 votes -
US President Donald Trump has accused Twitter of "completely stifling free speech" after the social media company flagged some of his tweets with a fact-check warning
42 votes -
The New York Times sues OpenAI, Microsoft over the use of its stories to train chatbots
62 votes -
Sam Altman will join Microsoft to lead a new advanced Al research team following his ouster from OpenAl, CEO Satya Nadella said
52 votes -
In search of fresh material to mine, AI companies are hiring poets, novelists, playwrights, writers, and Ph.D.s
34 votes -
A vast majority of people in the US and Canada suspect their smart speakers can eavesdrop on their conversations, and just over two-thirds think they’ve gotten ads based on that snooping
21 votes -
Apple formally endorses right to repair US legislation after spending millions fighting it
67 votes -
It's been twenty-four years since internet companies were declared off-the-hook for the behavior of their users. That may change, and soon
20 votes -
Google’s Eric Schmidt accidentally discovers labor unions
27 votes -
SAG-AFTRA strikes deal for AI voice acting licensing in video games at CES 2024
29 votes -
By more than two-to-one, Americans support US government banning TikTok
17 votes -
On GoGuardian and invasion of student privacy
24 votes -
Twitch suspends popular leftist streamer after controversial 9/11 comments
19 votes -
Facebook deletes InfoWars pages
20 votes -
Fact sheet: US President Joe Biden issues executive order on safe, secure, and trustworthy artificial intelligence
24 votes -
The most insane “robocall mitigation plans” that US telcos filed with the FCC
50 votes -
AI models found to show language bias by recommending Black defendents be 'sentenced to death'
28 votes -
Reddit CEO defends their intention to run Trump ads ahead of election, outlines their plans to move comments on ads into subreddits
51 votes -
Which smartphone and carrier are you using? (USA only)
For the past five or so years I've been using prepaid mvno carriers (in the us btw) and buying my own phone. It's somewhat of a frustrating experience trying to figure out which phones will...
For the past five or so years I've been using prepaid mvno carriers (in the us btw) and buying my own phone. It's somewhat of a frustrating experience trying to figure out which phones will actually work with which carrier. There's a lot of very attractivly priced phones from Chinese companies that unfortunately just don't support the u.s. LTE bands that i need. Im not really the kind of person who wants to buy a $600+ flagship and carrier offerings are generally abysmal and overpriced.
I also don't feel like I have very many options for carriers as I Live in a fairly rural area where t-mobile gets fairly spotty coverage. I have seen compelling options for Verizon if I wanted 4+ lines (it's only me and the wife right now, so that doesn't help us much) .
I'm definitely jealous of people in Europe and parts of Asia when it comes to cellphone and internet options.16 votes -
"By all means, go after big tech. But for the love of the next generation, don’t pretend that it’s going to help vulnerable youth."
33 votes -
There are no laws against deepfake pornography in the US
30 votes -
The buttons on Zenith’s original ‘clicker’ remote were a mechanical marvel
90 votes -
OpenAI's Altman launching a cryptocurrency with an eye-scanner gimmick. Does this impact how you feel about AI?
23 votes -
The Great Deplatforming: An alternate explanation for the Parler, et al, shutdowns
A common current narrative is that tech monopolists are suddenly acting of their own initiative and in concert to deplatform the burgeoning fascist insurgent movement within the US. I approve the...
A common current narrative is that tech monopolists are suddenly acting of their own initiative and in concert to deplatform the burgeoning fascist insurgent movement within the US. I approve the deplatforming strongly, though I suspect an alternative significant motivating and coordfinating factor.
An example of the "tech monopoly abuse" narrative is Glenn Greenwald's more than slightly unhinged "How Silicon Valley, in a Show of Monopolistic Force, Destroyed Parler"
Greenwald's argument hinges on emotion, insinuation, invective, a completely unfounded premise, an absolute absence of evidence, and no consideration of alternative explanations: an overwhelmingly plausible ongoing law enforcement and national security operation, likely under sealed or classified indictments or warrants, in the face of ongoing deadly sedition lead by the President of the United States himself, including against the person of his own vice president and credible threats against the President-Elect and Inauguration.
Such an legal action is, of course, extraordinarily difficult to prove, and I cannot prove it. A critical clue for me, however, is the defection not just of Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Stripe, and other tech firms, but of Parler's legal counsel, who would have to be an exceptionally stealth-mode startup to fit Greenwald's, or other's, "it's the tech monopolists" narrative. I've tempered my degree of assurance and language ("plausible" rather than "probable"). Time will tell. But a keen and critical mind such as Grenwald's should at least be weighing the possibility. He instead seems bent only on piking old sworn enemies, with less evidence or coherence than I offer.
This is the crux of Greenwald's argument. It's all he's got:
On Thursday, Parler was the most popular app in the United States. By Monday, three of the four Silicon Valley monopolies united to destroy it.
I'm no friend of the tech monopolists myself. The power demonstrated here does concern me, greatly. I've long railed against Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple, among other tech monopolists. Largely because as monopolies they are power loci acting through their occupation of a common resource, outside common control, and not serving the common weal. Hell: Facebook, Google (YouTube), Reddit, and Twitter played a massive role in creating the current fascist insurrection in the US, along with even more enthusiastic aid and comfort from traditional media, across the spectrum. Damage that will take decades to repair, if ever.
But, if my hypothesis is correct, the alternative explanation would be the opposite of this: the state asserting power over and through monopolies in the common interest, in support of democratic principles, for the common weal. And that I can support.
I don't know that this is the case. I find it curious that I seem to be the only voice suggesting it. Time should tell.
And after this is over, yes, Silicon Valley, in its metonymic sense standing for the US and global tech industry, has to face its monopoly problem, its free speech problem (in both sincere and insincere senses), its surveillance problem (capitalist, state, criminal, rogue actor), its censorship problem, its propaganda problem (mass and computational), its targeted manipulation adtech problem, its trust problem, its identity problem, its truth and disinformation problems, its tax avoidance problem, its political influence problem.
Virtually all of which are inherent aspects of monopoly: "Propaganda, censorship, and surveillance are all attributes of monopoly" https://joindiaspora.com/posts/7bfcf170eefc013863fa002590d8e506
HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24771470But, speaking as a space alien cat myself, Greenwald is so far off base here he's exited the Galaxy.
Update: 2h30m after posting, NPR have mentioned sealed indictments and speculated on whether the President might be charged, in special coverage.
Late edits: 2022-1-23 Typos: s/inconcert/in concert/; s/would bet he/would be the/;
19 votes -
After ten years in tech isolation, I’m now outsider to things I once had mastered
33 votes -
GitHub and US Government developers
15 votes